Image by Amtrak.

Faster, more frequent trains between DC and Richmond could be on the way. Virginia is looking at building new tracks between the two places, as well as changing existing ones to allow for higher speeds.

20 Amtrak, around 30 CSX, and even more VRE trains pass through Virginia each day, traveling along the railroad tracks between DC and Richmond. As it stands, Richmond is between 2.5 and three hours away from DC with current rail service. A project called the DC2RVA Rail Improvement Project aims to make these trains a bit faster and allow more of them to run.

Virginia's rail agency, the Department of Rail and Public Transportation (DRPT), briefed Virginia’s transportation board last Tuesday on its plans to update the tracks by straightening some curves, which will let trains travel at higher speeds, and by adding more tracks, which would mean more frequent service for VRE and Amtrak riders. The overall goal is to add nine daily round-trip trains from North Carolina or Norfolk/Newport News that would travel up through DC to Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor including Baltimore, Philly, and New York.

Part of the briefing was also to announce the projected cost of $5.2 billion. The project still needs funding for the actual track work, but at least we now know how much it will cost.

DC to Atlanta is a federally-recognized “high speed rail” corridor

This track improvement project is part of a larger network slowly being studied from DC down to Atlanta. The portion from DC to Richmond is in the study’s second phase, and the big thing here is to complete what’s called a Tier II Environmental Impact Statement, which has to happen before construction can start.

This part of the process should wrap up in 2017, and construction (assuming funding comes together) could be finished by 2025.

DRPT has split the project into six sections and has announced plans (and pricetags) for each. Here’s a list and a map of each section, along with more specific detail below:

  1. Arlington ($36-47 million)
  2. Northern Virginia ($1.9 billion)
  3. Fredericksburg ($493 million)
  4. Central Virginia ($643 million)
  5. Ashland (between $388 and $599 million)
  6. Richmond ($1.4 billion)

DRPT's DC2RVA study area.  Image by Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation.

In Arlington, south of the Long Bridge, add two tracks to make four total

The northernmost area of the study is just south of the CSX-owned Long Bridge, which carries two train tracks from Virginia into DC and is used by Amtrak, VRE, and CSX. Separately from the Virginia study, DC is looking at replacing the 113-year old bridge to increase the number of tracks from two to four.

The Long Bridge. Image by Elvert Barnes licensed under Creative Commons.

The estimated cost of between $36 and 47 million is based on the three options presented, and depends on the proposed alignment for the new Long Bridge. The new tracks would parallel the existing CSX-owned track for just about a mile.

Add a third track from Northern VA to Fredericksburg

Area #2 extends south, from the first area's mile to just north of Fredericksburg; it toals 47 miles. A third track would do a lot to help reduce CSX congestion and scheduling conflicts with Amtrak and VRE trains. VRE is already involved in a third-track expansion project in Alexandria, so there are some gaps here already filled in.

In some places in Area #2, there would be four tracks to coincide with the four tracks from area #1 just south of DC. The existing tracks here are also used by both VRE and CSX trains coming in from Manassas and farther out, so there's additional justification for the extra track there.

The estimated cost of adding the new tracks and building necessary bridges in Area #2 is $1.9 billion.

Have three tracks run through Fredericksburg, not two

Continuing farther south in Virginia, the hope is to add a third track through Fredericksburg. This section of track is just about at the south end of VRE territory, but would additionally insulate those passenger trains from slow freight, as well as allow Amtrak to run more trains through the area.

While a third track exists in the city, it needs to be added to the north and south of what exists there currently. Additional track along this 14-mile corridor would cost $493 million.

Add tracks from Fredericksburg down to Ashland, but leave Ashland itself for a later study

29 miles of third track would be added south of Fredericksburg to north of Ashland, Virginia, at a cost of around $643 million. The current section has two tracks, so this would add one more, and make some slight modifications to allow trains to run just a tad faster on straighter curves.

The tracks through Ashland are a tricky case. The two existing tracks literally run through the middle of the street, so trains have to run slowly because there are cars, bikes, and people on either side of them.

Downtown Ashland. Image by David Wilson licensed under Creative Commons.

This also limits Virginia in what it can do to increase service. Bypassing the city means there could be fewer trains stopping downtown, but there's also little room to add another track next to the existing two.

There's been pushback on a new set of tracks from Ashland residents, so DRPT is going to spend time looking at other options, including building in a rural area west of the city.

Depending on what DRPT ends up deciding in Ashland, the new construction could cost anywhere from $388 to $699 million.

Keep using two stations in Richmond

For the last segment of the project, DRPT is recommending continued use of Richmond's two train stations, Staples Mill and Main Street, and putting $1.5 billion toward improving the tracks in the area and adding more platforms at Staples Mill. Due to location limitations of the downtown station, DRPT says it can’t add more tracks there, a move that would allow the two stations to be consolidated.

Currently, some trains that stop at Staples Mill travel down the “A Line” to Centralia, VA, which bypasses the downtown Richmond area. Trains that stop at Main Street use the “S Line” which cuts through the city.

The project's recommendation would shift passenger trains so that all trains end up traveling through both stations instead of having some take the A Line bypass around the southwest of the city. The shift could benefit CSX by allowing additional freight trains to use the section of track which Virginia would shift from. Routing trains through downtown might require a new bridge over the James River, and a new platform at Staples Mill would be needed to allow for increased service to that station.

The project is a good start, but there are lots more ways to improve rail service

One of the initial DC2RVA project recommendations was for Virginia to rely on an “incremental development approach.” By doing so, the state should be able to make smaller, more manageable upgrades to the track in order to increase capacity and increase speeds, which we’re now seeing as the Tier II study starts coming to a close.

But in the end, Virginia is looking to make trains operate at up to a maximum of 90 miles per hour in the corridor, which is still lower than what Amtrak's regular Northeast Regional trains can operate at between DC and New York.

The state also disbanded the idea of electrifying the track, a move that could have eliminated the need for trains to change locomotives in DC from electric to diesel in order to continue the trip south, essentially making Richmond the new southern terminal of the Northeast Corridor. This upgrade was not considered cost-effective for the number of trains running south of DC.

The most expensive option that was likely never realistically considered due to cost was the separation of passenger and freight rail traffic, which could reduce plenty of congestion and allow the most number of new trains to operate. Since passenger trains can accelerate faster and run at higher speeds than typical freight trains, they can oftentimes get in each others’ way and slows down everybody.

As it stands, Richmond is between 2.5 and three hours away from DC with current rail service. Any action to reduce the travel time makes taking the train that much more of a feasible alternative to driving down I-95 for points south of DC, and benefits all parties involved — Amtrak, CSX, VRE, Virginia, and riders.

Stephen Repetski is a Virginia native and has lived in the Fairfax area for over 20 years. He has a BS in Applied Networking and Systems Administration from Rochester Institute of Technology and works in Information Technology. Learning about, discussing, and analyzing transit (especially planes and trains) is a hobby he enjoys.